Emory

Chapter 13

I wake up to the most amazing feeling. Kye's fingers running through my hair and his other hand softly exploring my face. He traces my jaw line then follows my neck down to my collar bone. I try to fake sleeping and have to bite the inside of my mouth to squelch the smile that is only seconds away from erupting. I wonder if he is getting as much satisfaction in touching me as I am at being touched by him. How did I find myself here? Why an amazing guy that is playing with my hair! Surely a girl who has never been one to day dream endlessly about true love doesn't deserve for this to just fall into her lap. Am allowed to just accept this and let my sheltered naive heart fall in love? But... who wouldn't fall for a man like Kye. He certainly got my attention, in more ways than one.

I turn to snuggle deeper into the pillow under my head and Kyle's hands immediately still and I realize why when I open my eyes. I am not on a pillow, my head is in his lap and I was snuggling deeper in... I guess I've got his attention as well.

Afraid of turning a good moment into an awkward one I decide to play it off as innocent, which it totally is of course, and smile. “Good morning.”

“Good afternoon.” He smiles back.

I cock my head curiously to the side. I had forgotten that it was only midday when we came up here to rest. I had slept so soundly that I could have sworn it was the next day.

I sit up and Kye pushes himself to his feet then reaches down with both hands to help me to my feet. Once I am upright it takes me a minute to regain my equilibrium. I steady myself by holding on to Kye’s shoulder.

“Where’s Mia?” I ask once the blood in my brain has settled. Maybe it is because we are so far up in the tree.

“She went towards th' Core ahead of us. It is only an hour's walk.”

Kye kneels down and starts rummaging through his satchel. Milo pops his head out of it and frowns up at him. He rubs his eyes like a tired child and crawls up Kye’s sleeve to rest on his shoulder. The small animal looks around for a minute then his eyes rest on me and he perks up a little bit. I walk over and hold my hand out to him which he immediately jumps onto and scampers up to my own shoulder. I can hardly handle his cuteness as he makes himself comfortable, curling up against my neck and hair.

“He is so soft.” I say out loud.

Kye stands and walks over to pet Milo, his knuckles brush my cheek in the process. He keeps his eyes on me and I can't look away. "Aye, he is."

I bite my lip and Kye's eyes follow the movement.

Kye steps back and hands me an orange blob. It's just like the one Jax had tried to get me to eat. He cuts the tip off with his knife and hands it to me. I take it and wait till he has opened the one that is for him before I try it. I have eaten one before by I'm pretty sure I did it wrong the first time so I want to see how he does it before I make a fool of myself. Kye lifts it and drinks from it just like a canteen. I follow his lead. It tastes exactly like oranges which is what I expected. What I was not expect is its texture and temperature. It is thick and cool like a smoothie which just added to its deliciousness.

“Hmmm...” I moan a little, which causes Kye to smile.

“Good aye?”

I nod enthusiastically and take another sip. Kye finishes first the pops the outer layer that left into his mouth and eats it. I stare at mine and frown. I actually don't think it fill fit in my mouth. And if it does, it sure won't be attractive so I have it to Kye. He takes it without question and eats it.

"Come on" Kye stands and swings his pack over his shoulder. Not waiting for my response he throws me one of his dashing smiles and begins descending down the tree. I roll my eyes and grown at the thought of climbing down, but I start to follow anyways. Guess I will have to get use to this. There's only a few times where I can't find my footing but Kye being below me fixes my footing and keeps at a pace I can follow. Halfway down my arms start to get tired.